Plan to expel missionaries from Venezuela protested

Hundreds in Venezuela protest plan to expel U.S. missionaries

NATALIE OBIKO PEARSON, Associated Press

Published
5:30 am CDT, Saturday, October 29, 2005

PUERTO AYACUCHO, VENEZUELA - Hundreds of indigenous Venezuelans marched Friday to protest President Hugo Chávez's threat to expel a group of U.S.-based evangelists, amid intensifying government scrutiny of foreign missionaries operating in the country.

The protesters — including some who traveled for days by boat from their homes in the dense Amazon jungle — showed their support for New Tribes Mission.

Two weeks ago, Chávez ordered the New Tribes missionaries to leave the country, accusing the Sanford, Fla.-based organization of links to the CIA and gathering "strategic information" in the country's Amazon rainforest.

Government officials and other critics of the evangelist group have since backed Chávez's decision, accusing the missionaries of destroying indigenous culture and using their presence in remote, mineral-rich tracts of Venezuela to conduct reconnaissance work for foreign mining and pharmaceutical interests.

New Tribes has denied the accusations. Supporters say the group has brought much-needed medical, educational and other assistance to indigenous communities long neglected by the authorities.